Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

Agathocles was the son of a potter. After he had made himself master of Sicily, and had been proclaimed king, he used to have drinking-cups of pottery placed beside those of gold, and as he pointed these out to the young men he would say, That is the sort of thing which I used to do formerly, but this is what I do now because of my diligence and fortitude.[*](Cf. Moralia, 544 B, where the story is repeated in slightly different words.)

When he was besieging a city, some of the people on the wall reviled him, saying, Potter, how are you going to pay your soldiers’ wages ? But he, unruffled and smiling, said, If I take this town. And after he had taken it by storm he sold the captives as slaves, and said, If you revile me again, what I have to say will be said to your masters. [*](Cf. Moralia, 458 F, where, however, the last remark is attributed to Antigonus the One-eyed.)

When the people of Ithaca complained of his sailors because they had put in at the island and had forcibly carried off some of the animals, he said, But your king carne to us, and not only took our flocks, but also blinded their shepherd, [*](The Cyclops, Homer, Od. ix. 375.) and went his way. [*](Cf. Moralia, 557 B, where the story is repeated in fewer words.)

When Dion, who expelled Dionysius from his kingdom, heard that a plot against him was being set on foot by Callippus, in whom he placed the greatest trust above all other friends, both those at home and those from abroad, he could not bring himself to investigate, but said, It is better to die than to live in a state of continual watchfulness not only against one’s enemies but also against one’s friends. [*](Cf. Plutarch’s Life of Dion, chap. lvi. (982 D)). The story of the plot and the death of Dion is in chaps. liv.-lvii. Cf. also Valerius Maximus, iii. 8. Ext. 5.)

When Archelaus, at a convivial gathering, was asked for a golden cup by one of his acquaintances of a type not commendable for character, he bade the servant give it to Euripides; and in answer to the man’s look of astonishment, he said, It is true that you have a right to ask for it, but Euripides has a right to receive it even though he did not ask for it.

When a garrulous barber asked him, How shall I cut your hair ? he said, In silence. [*](Cf. Moralia, 509 A.)

When Euripides threw his arms around the fair Agathon in the midst of an evening party and kissed

When Timotheus the harp-player had hopes of receiving a goodly sum, but received less, he plainly showed that he felt resentful towards Archelaus; and, once, as he was singing this brief line: Over the earth-born silver you rave. [*](Cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. iii. p. 624, Timotheus, No. 14, or Edmonds, Lyra Graeca (in L.C.L.), iii. p. 330, No. 28. Plutarch repeats the story in Moralia, 334 B.) he directed it towards Archelaus; whereupon Archelaus retorted upon him with this, That, however, is what you crave.

When somebody had thrown water upon him, and he was incited by his friends against the man, he said, But it was not upon me that he threw it, but upon the man he thought me to be.

Theophrastus has recorded that Philip, the father of Alexander, was not only great among kings, but, owing to his fortune and his conduct, proved himself still greater and more moderate [*](Cf. Cicero, De Officiis, i. 26 (90).)

He said that he must congratulate the Athenians on their happy fortune if they could find ten men every year to elect as generals; for he himself in many years had found only one general, Parmenio.

When several happy events were reported to him within a single day, he said, O Fortune, do

After his victory over the Greeks, when some were advising him to hold the Greek cities in subjection by means of garrisons, he said that he preferred to be called a good man for a long time rather than a master for a short time.

When his friends advised him to banish from his court a man who maligned him, he said he would not, so that the man should not go about speaking ill of him among more people. [*](A similar story is told of Pyrrhus in Plutarch’s Life of Pyrrhus, chap. viii. (387 E).)

When Smicythus remarked maliciously of Nicanor that he was always speaking ill of Philip, and Philip’s companions thought that he ought to send for Nicanor and punish him, Philip said, But really Nicanor is not the worst of the Macedonians. We must investigate therefore whether something is not happening for which we are responsible. When he learned therefore that Nicanor was hard pressed by poverty, and had been neglected by him he directed that a present be given to the man. So when again Smicythus said that Nicanor was continually sounding the praises of Philip to everybody in a surprising way, Philip said, You all see that we ourselves are responsible for the good and the ill that is said of us. [*](Cf. Themistius, Oration, vii. 95 B, and Frontinus, Strategemata, iv. 7. 37.)

He said that he felt very grateful to the popular leaders of the Athenians, because by maligning him they made him better both in speech and in character, For I try both by my words and by my deeds to prove that they are liars.

When all the Athenians who had been taken

When the keybone of his shoulder had been broken in battle, [*](Cf. Demosthenes, Oration xviii. (De Corona), 67 (p. 247), and Aulus Gellius, ii. 27.) and the attending physician insistently demanded a fee every day, he said, Take as much as you wish; for you have the key in your charge ! [*](The pun depends on the fact that κλείς means both key and collar-bone. )

Of two brothers, Both and Each, he observed that Each was sensible and practical, and Both was silly and foolish, and he remarked that Each was both and Both was neither!

Those who counselled him to treat the Athen ians harshly he said were silly in urging a man who did everything and underwent everything for the sake of repute to throw away his chance to exhibit it.